U.S. ship attacked

Posted: Thursday, October 12, 2000

WASHINGTON (AP) - A powerful explosion rocked a U.S. Navy ship in port on the Arabian Peninsula today in an apparent suicide terrorist bombing that killed at least four Americans and injured more than 30, the Defense Department said. Twelve sailors were missing.

No one has claimed responsibility, U.S. officials said.

The destroyer USS Cole, with a crew of about 350 sailors, was in port at Aden, Yemen, for refueling when a small craft came alongside the ship and an explosion followed, according to Lt. Cmdr. Daren Pelkie, spokesman for the Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters in Manama, Bahrain.

At a State Department news conference, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright declared: "We will hold those who committed it accountable and take appropriate steps."

She said this is no time for the United States to "retreat from our responsibilities" in the region.

"We are operating in a world that is filled with a variety of threats. But that doesn't mean that we can crawl into an ostrichlike mode. We are eagles," Albright said.

Details of the incident were sketchy, but officials at the Pentagon said it appeared that the small boat was carrying some form of high explosive powerful enough to rip a large hole - 20 feet by 40 feet - in the side of the U.S. ship.

The boat was of the kind used in normal harbor operations in the port of Aden, according to a Pentagon official familiar with official reports from the scene. The official, who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity, said the boat crew had helped secure the Cole's mooring lines at the fueling dock before it came alongside the ship.

Two men were seen standing up in the small boat before the explosion, the official said. He said there was no doubt that the explosion came from the small boat but it was not clear whether the boat rammed the ship.

Pelkie said at least 36 sailors were reported injured and 12 were missing, in addition to four confirmed dead. The injured were taken to a local hospital and U.S. Navy medical teams were dispatched to the scene from Bahrain.

Flooding on the ship was reported to be contained and there were no reports of fire.

The explosion "was so loud I thought it was from inside the hotel. The windows in 21 of our 33 rooms were shattered, and many of the television sets fell and broke," said Ahmed Mohammed Al-Naderi, manager of the port-side Rock Hotel. "Thank God, none of the guests or hotel personnel were injured."

Al-Naderi said he could see the Cole from his hotel.

"It has a big hole in it, but it doesn't appear to be sinking. There are some people on board, and some small boats around it."

President Clinton was notified of the incident by his national security adviser, Sandy Berger, said White House spokesman Jake Siewert. The president called Defense Secretary William Cohen, urging him and Berger to find out what happened.

"He's obviously troubled by it," Siewert said. "He wants to know what happened." Siewert said the incident "appears to be a terrorist bombing but we don't know what happened."

Albright said she had talked with Ali Abdallah Saleh, the president of Yemen, and said he pledged support in the investigation.

She urged caution in attributing the incident to a terrorist attack. "We first have to be careful here. We have to make an assessment of the facts."

She called the incident a "great tragedy," and reiterated: "If it does appear it is a terrorist attack, we obviously will take appropriate steps."

At the Justice Department, Attorney General Janet Reno declined to comment on a possible terrorist link. She said FBI agents in the region have been sent to the scene and that the bureau was putting together investigators, explosives experts and an evidence response team to send as well. The nearest FBI legal attaches are stationed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Asked whether consideration is being given to putting on a worldwide terrorist alert at U.S. installations, she said, "That is an issue that is being addressed."